Monday, Nov. 24, 2008

A British sailor and his Belgian friend who got in trouble in off the coast of Spain were rescued after the wife of one of them raised the alarm in London.

The long other and his Belgian friends left from the island of Mallorca to go to Spain.

Her husband would call in right away at the end of the 22 hour trip. So, when she hadn’t heard of from him after 24 hours she called for help.

She dialed 999 (the British 911) and explained them what was her concern.

Emergency line in turn put her in touch with the British coast guard. They in turn alerted the international Coast Guard liaison office. And fire them a message was relayed to the Spanish Coast Guard.

An air and sea search was launched and the pair was found and picked up after about three days.

The maritime rescue center in Mallorca, talking to Spanish reporters, called the rescue Americo, especially since if the wife had to notify anybody no one would have known these people were in trouble.

“It’s a miracle they have been found. The last contact anyone had with them was on Wednesday night when they spoke to their relatives to say they had hit high seas and the boat was rolling and pitching.

One of the lessons is that if you have any concerns about anyone anywhere at sea then tell the authorities and something can be done no matter where you are.”— Miguel Chicon, director of the Maritime Rescue Centre in Palma

Monday, Jul. 21, 2008

Neighbors rescued a woman from her burning home early Monday morning, and three firefighters were hurt putting out the flames in Green Bay.

The fire was discovered around 4 o’clock at a three-story home in the 800-block of South Quincy Street on the city’s east side. Investigators say 68-year-old Mary Taylor lives there with her two dogs.

“I got out of bed and went to the front window and could tell somebody was yelling, ‘Fire!'” Curt Dworak said.

When he realized what was happening just a couple houses down from his own, he threw on some clothes and ran to his neighbor’s aid.

“I was just hoping Mary wasn’t in there, and her car was in the driveway so I knew she was, so I just reacted,” he said. “I just busted the glass. It all started falling. I ripped the screen out and then went in the window.”

Dworak yelled for Mary but got no response. As he searched, the fire grew and debris started falling around him.

“I didn’t know what to do. I yelled for her a couple more times, and then I heard her.”

Disoriented and incapacitated, Mary was sprawled on the floor in the back of her house, so Dworak picked her up and carried her to safety.

While others call what Dworak did heroic, he says anyone would’ve done the same.

“They would’ve all done the same thing. Mary’s a nice lady, and how could you live with yourself if you didn’t do something like that?”

Mary was up and talking before she was taken to the hospital to be checked out. Dworak escaped without a scratch.

Three firefighters putting out the fire were treated for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion.

“Always tough for us. The gear we wear is basically like winter clothes, and it holds a lot of heat, so that was definitely a concern. They rotate crews quite frequently to make sure we stay hydrated and cool,” Nick Craig, Green Bay Fire Department, said.

Monday, Jul. 14, 2008

A young girl who fell from a boat into the River Nene was just seconds from death when she was snatched from the water by an angler who spotted her plight.
The child, who is thought to be about four years old, was underwater and drowning when angling match organiser Ken Wade raced to the scene and slithered down the river bank on his stomach to reach down and get hold of her wrist.

Today, Mr Wade (57), The Evening Telegraph’s angling correspondent, shrugged off any suggestion that he was a hero and said he was delighted to save the child’s life because he has a grand-daughter of his own.

The drama began on Saturday (12 July) at 7pm as Mr Wade was pegging out for a major fishing match which took place in the city yesterday.

Mr Wade, of High Street, Fletton, Peterborough, was walking along the riverbank – close to the Key Theatre on the Embankment – when he saw two young girls playing on the deck of a moored boat.

He was shocked seconds later to hear piercing screams from the elder of the two girls, and he realised the younger child had vanished into the water.

Mr Wade said: “I had seen them joking around on the boat and thought nothing of it.

“But then, out of the corner of my eye, I realised I had seen what could have been the girl slipping off the boat, and I could hear the other girl screaming.

“I rushed to the boat, fell on to my front, and slid along the bank until I could grab the girl, who was under the water.

“I reached under and managed to catch hold of her wrist. She was a tiny little thing and she was completely submerged.

“I pulled her up on to the river bank. The other girl, who I presumed was her older sister, was still screaming for help.

“A man, who I took to be the girl’s father, was inside the boat. He came out and laid her on the bank and he managed to resuscitate her.

“I then left the family to it. They all looked very shaken.

“The oddest thing about it was a group of Polish men, who had seen what had happened, they ran over to me and started to slap me on the back, calling me a hero.

“They even offered me a drink of beer.”

But Mr Wade, who is the secretary of the Peterborough and District Angling Association, said it wasn’t until he got home that the traumatic incident really hit home.

He added: “I have a grand-daughter myself, and it was when I thought of her that I realised how serious the situation had been.”

Mr Wade’s daughter, Paula Ramsden, said: “We couldn’t believe it when he told us what happened. We are proud of him.”

Mr Wade said today that he hoped the child had now fully recovered from her brush with death.

Monday, Jul. 7, 2008

A house fire Monday morning forced a woman to drop a two-year-old child from a second-story window before she was rescued herself by firefighters.

No one injured in the fire, but the woman, who is pregnant, and one firefighter were treated for smoke inhalation.

The fire started about 7:43 a.m. in the kitchen of a house in the 400 block of Dare Avenue, according to Fire Marshal Anne-Marie Loughran.

The family renting the house had visitors for the holiday weekend, Loughran said, so that a total of four adults and seven children were in the home at the time of the fire.

According to Loughran the woman dropped a two-year-old child from a second-story window to a teen-aged cousin standing below, then was rescued when firefighters arrived. Loughran said a neighbor tried to get people out of the second story with a ladder, but was unsuccessful.

Firefighters also rescued a dog.

Thursday, Jun. 12, 2008

A WOMAN and three children were rescued yesterday after they were blown out to sea in a toy dinghy.
Clyde coastguard said the family did not have a paddle and were not wearing lifejackets when they were caught out by a strong offshore wind.

The woman and children were rescued after a member of the public spotted them floating out to sea and called 999.

Peter Stewart, the Clyde Coastguard watch manager, said: “A potential disaster was averted today. These people were ill-prepared for taking to sea, with no lifejackets and no paddles and wearing beachwear.

“Once the offshore wind picked them up, they had absolutely no control over their fate and, as the beach disappeared into the distance, their only hope could be that someone would notice and make the right decision to call 999 and ask for the coastguard.

“Inflatable toys and boats are far more suitable for swimming pools and the like.”

Monday, Jun. 9, 2008

Fire crews worked to rescue two men trapped inside a crane that collapsed in Baltimore County Wednesday afternoon.

The crane collapsed at a shipyard in Sparrows Point around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday after severe storms passed through the area, according to Sky Team 11 Capt. Roy Taylor.

Taylor reported that two men were trapped inside the twisting metal, but both were able to make contact with fire crews to let them know they were OK.

At about 4:45 p.m., fire crews used a ladder truck to reach one of the men, who was able to make his way down a fire ladder by himself. He walked away from the wreck on his own and refused treatment, video from Sky Team 11 showed.

Crews rescued the other man by 5 p.m. He also refused treatment, Taylor reported.

Sparrows Point is the site of a steel mill owned by Russian steelmaker OAO Severstal.

Friday, Jun. 6, 2008

Mountaineers performed a complicated rope rescue Tuesday night on Mount McKinley to reach a climber after the man tumbled 2,000 feet down the mountain.

Denali National Park and Preserve officials said the climber, 44-year-old Claude Ratte, of Montreal, Candada, missed a step while descending the well-traveled West Buttress ridge and fell down a snow- and ice-covered stretch of the mountain with slopes between 35 and 40 degrees. His face and leg were badly injured. They said he used a satellite phone to call rescuers shortly before noon Tuesday.

A park spokeswoman said two teams reached Ratte within a few hours and joined for an elaborate, technical rope rescue that involved 14 ground rescuers and included the longest raising operation — Ratte was hoisted 2,000 feet by rope — in the history of mountaineering in Denali National Park.

Ratte was in serious but stable,\ condition at a camp at 14,200 feet on Mount McKinley this morning as park officials waited for the weather to clear so he can be flown to Anchorage for further medical care.

“It’s amazing the things that people live through,” said park spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin.

Saturday, May. 31, 2008

A dramatic rescue took place on the River Yare outside Norwich yesterday after a man broke his shoulder bone when his dinghy capsized, tipping him into the water.

Ashley Richardson was unable to swim to safety due to his injuries after falling into the water outside Coldham Hall Tavern, in Surlingham.

As he desperately tried to stay afloat, Norwich’s Riverside Lifeboat, based at nearby Brundall, was dispatched to pull him from the water.

Today, Mr Richardson, 56, spoke from his bed at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, to tell of his gratitude towards his rescuers.

He told the Evening News: “I’ve broken and dislocated my shoulder, but it could have been much worse.

“If the lifeboat had not been there, I’d still be there now or floating down the river dead.

“I was trying to moor the dinghy and stood up to grab the wooden railings. I had both legs in the dinghy, but it suddenly pulled away.

“I fell in the river and was hanging onto the railings. I felt my shoulder go and I was hanging on for dear life.

“I could not move because I was in so much pain. I was in the water for about five to 10 minutes.

“Someone from the pub came out to help me and luckily the rescue boat was right opposite, thank goodness.”

Mr Richardson, who runs a taxi business in Uppingham, Rutland, has been staying with a friend in Brundall this week, and the pair had taken the dinghy out for the first time yesterday afternoon. Both men were wearing life jackets.

When Mr Richardson, who has two children and two step-children, put his hand on the wooden railings to tie up the dinghy, it moved away, leaving him hanging on.

The jerk dislocated his shoulder and he was tipped over into the water.

The commotion was heard at the Coldham Hall Tavern, and licensee David Barnes, 30, rushed out to help.

Mr Barnes said: “I put a ladder into the water for him to grab onto, but he could not move so he could not grab it. Luckily, the rescue boat then arrived.”

Leslie Mogford, who runs Norwich’s Riverside Lifeboat, was working nearby and sent the boat out to rescue the man.

Mr Mogford said: “With all the cries for help it was obvious that he was in some distress, so we sprinted for the lifeboat at the yard and launched the boat.

“When we got to the scene we managed to get the man into our dinghy and make him as comfortable as possible.

“We administered basic first aid to him and called the ambulance. He was obviously soaking wet and in so much pain he could not talk.”

The rescue highlights the importance of the river rescue service. In recent years it has struggle for funding, meaning its volunteers have had to help finance it on several occasions.

Earlier this week, the Maritime Volunteer Service, which operates Norwich’s Riverside Lifeboat, was given a financial boost when it was named as the civic charity of the city’s new Lord Mayor Jeremy Hooke.

The service, which operates with a crew of three, including a trained paramedic, is based in Brundall but also uses Norwich Yacht Station, on the River Wensum, during its patrols of the river.

It can be called on by police or coastguards in emergencies, which can be life-saving, to somebody who finds themselves in difficulties in the river.

Thursday, May. 29, 2008

Water filled an upside-down Subaru that plunged into an irrigation canal Saturday evening, but Wenatchee police and firefighters freed the driver after an ordeal that lasted between five and 10 minutes, police and fire officials said.

Camella Rasmussen, 40, the driver, was listed in satisfactory condition this morning at Central Washington Hospital, a spokeswoman said.

One officer at the scene described it “as nothing short of a miracle” that Rasmussen survived, said Wenatchee police Sgt. Cherie Smith.

Authorities were called at 8:43 p.m. to the 2200 block of Maple Street, where a 1993 Subaru Legacy sat in waist-deep water, said Smith.

Two witnesses described seeing the westbound vehicle veer left and into the canal, said Smith. They ran to a neighbor’s home for help, and the man there grabbed a crowbar and tried unsuccessfully to break out a window underwater, said Smith.

Police arrived but also had difficulty breaking out the glass cleanly, said Smith. Meanwhile, the woman “was just sitting there in the driver’s seat, not trying to get out,” even as the cabin filled with water, Smith said.

Police and firefighters were able to tip the car on its side, said Smith. Assistant Fire Chief Mark Yaple said firefighters then tied the car to an anchor on solid ground to keep it from tipping over again. Firefighters finally were able to use tools to cut out a window and chunk of the windshield, freeing the woman.

Smith said the woman did not appear intoxicated, and it’s unclear why the car veered into the canal.

Friday, May. 16, 2008

AN UNNAMED hero rescued a couple from a flat fire – and then disappeared without giving his name.

The man, who is thought to be in his mid twenties, raised the alarm and then set about trying to tackle the fire, with a jug he kept refilling with water.

Fire fighters called to the scene – Glentworth House, Netherfields, Middlesbrough – gave the man oxygen after he breathed in smoke while fighting the blaze which broke out in the 11th floor flat sometime after 5 am today.

The young couple, who did not have smoke alarms fitted, had fallen asleep with a chip pan burning on the cooker.

Marty Challenor, a crew manager with Cleveland Fire Brigade, suspects the couple’s rescuer lives in the block of flats and was passing by when he spotted the fire.

Mr Challenor said: “Obviously, the couple were very lucky he was there to raise the alarm. It could have got a lot worse. He did a great job. He raised the alarm and tackled the fire.”

He added: “The occupants of the flat did not have smoke alarms and had left on a chip pan unattended. Smoke alarms would have given them a lot of early warning. I can’t stress enough the dangers of leaving pans unattended and not having smoke alarms.”

The blaze severely damaged the kitchen and filled the remainder of the flat with smoke.

Cleveland Fire Brigade are carrying out fire safety inspections across the brigade area in a bid to cut down the number of house fires. Mr Challenor said: “We are doing our best, but unfortunately we still get fires at the end of the day.”

A woman and her son are lucky to be alive after being pulled from their upside down, submerged vehicle after it crashed off a bridge into a Gisborne river this morning.

Sergeant Sean Buchanan of the Gisborne police said the Toyota was heading along Lytton Rd at about 9.10am when it appeared to swerve before crashing through the bridge railings into the Taruheru River.

“The entire cabin of the vehicle was submerged, Mr Buchanan said.

“Members of the public who had been following the vehicle immediately ran down to the river and pulled the two occupants free.”

Mr Buchanan said the occupants, a 34-year-old woman and her eight-year-old son were unhurt, but in shock and suffering from hypothermia.

He said the rescuers had managed to unclip both seatbelts before pulling them out of the cold and muddy water.

“If not for their (the rescuers) actions, there may well have been a loss of life.”

“Police would like to acknowledge the great efforts of those members of the public who were first on the scene,” Mr Buchanan said.

The car’s occupants are recovering after being taken to Gisborne Hospital for assessment.

Thursday, May. 15, 2008

It looked like it was going to be a routine run for Colfax Fire Capt. J.D. Smith and Lt. Eric Harmison.

On the morning of Tuesday May 7 a semitrailer truck had toppled over in the westbound lanes of Interstate Highway 80 near Colfax. No one was seriously injured, but westbound traffic was brought to a standstill for most of the day by the overturned truck.

As Smith and Harmison returned to the firehouse, they saw what appeared to be a big ball of smoke or dust rising in the distance.

Smith and Harmison headed toward the smoke. When they arrived, they saw a driver was pinned in the cab of a big rig and the clock for survival was ticking.

The chain-reaction accident involving two semi trucks, a car and a van occurred about two miles from the first accident.

Smith and Harmison had about four minutes to pull the driver out of the wreckage before the cab became engulfed in flames. The two firefighters, with the help of a passer-by, relied on their muscles. There was no time to wait for the arrival of special equipment.

“As we pulled up, the passer-by was already trying to get the driver out,” Harmison said. “He was trying to get him uncaught from the seat and the steering column and get his leg free.”

The driver was unconscious and flames were spreading fast. “It was burning in our faces as we were working,” Smith said. “There was no time to mess around. Troopers and bystanders were using fire extinguishers, trying to buy us a little time.”

The three men struggled and finally were able to lift the driver from the cab and carry him to safety.

“I wasn’t sure we were going to be able to get him out,” Smith said. “But no one gave up.”

The men felt the rumble of an explosion – a tire may have blown from the heat of the fire – as they reached the ambulance with the unconscious driver. Smith turned around and saw the truck was engulfed in flames. It was 7:18 a.m., just four minutes after they had arrived at the scene.

“The passer-by got back in his car and left,” Harmison said. “I don’t even know who he was.”

The injured truck driver, Vlado Tomov, 28, of Chicago, was listed in fair condition late Tuesday at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. The two accidents caused the westbound lanes of I-80 near Newton to be closed for about eight hours. By 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, all lanes had reopened.

The Iowa State Patrol said in a report that Tomov failed to reduce the speed of the semi he was driving and hit a 2005 Volvo driven by Lawrence Cottrell, 35, of Michigan, causing a chain reaction. Tomov’s truck then clipped a truck driven by Terry Keys, 49, of St. Louis, Mo. The Volvo then hit a van driven by William Nagel, 37, of Malcom.

Tomov was taken to Des Moines by helicopter. Nagel was taken by ambulance to Skiff Medical Center in Newton and was later transferred to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. Information on Nagel’s condition was not immediately available.

FOUR people have been praised after they saved two children from drowning.

Two unnamed men dived into Haverigg Lagoon to help a 12-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy.

The children, from Millom, got into difficulties swimming 100 metres off the coast.

Two police officers, PC Rachel Brown and PC Ben Strain, swam out to help in the rescue, which unfolded at 6pm on Sunday.

The actions of the officers have been commended by Cumbria Constabulary.

Sergeant Rachel Jones said: “This was a near tragedy, which was only averted by the presence of mind of witnesses and the bravery of the local people and police officers who swam to the aid of the children.

“I am delighted there is a happy ending to this situation, but it should act as a warning to parents to remain vigilant as the warm weather sets in, and to remind children of the dangers associated with playing in water.”

Two members of Millom coastguard also attended.

John Whitford, station officer at Millom Inshore Rescue, said: “If it wasn’t for the actions of the people on the scene it could have been a lot worse. The police officers were exceptional.

“We were alerted to the scene and were there within five minutes, the police were already on the scene. We were just concentrating on keeping the children calm and keeping them warm. We used a special blanket and talked to them until the ambulance arrived, we had the girl on oxygen at one point and treated them both for shock.

“Some of the guys with boats on the lagoon offered to come and help but the children were out of the water when we arrived.

Friday, May. 9, 2008

Five Woodward County girls were rescued Monday morning, a day after they went missing on the North Canadian River, said Matt Lehenbauer, county emergency management director.

“We don’t have much information such as where the girls are from but we do know they are OK,” Lehenbauer said.

An Oklahoma Highway Patrol helicopter pilot spotted the girls floating on the raft in an area near Mutual, he said. The river level was so low, the pilot saw one girl pulling the raft, Lehenbauer said.

Authorities were stationed at a bridge downstream where they rescued the girls, he said.

The girls reportedly went on a float trip down the river Sunday afternoon and were last seen about noon.

“It appears the girls failed to call their parents,” Lehenbauer said.

Lehenbauer said the biggest concern before the girls were found was that an escaped prisoner is still missing in the area.

Thursday, May. 8, 2008

Two Fall River men are being credited with saving the life of a baby who fell into a storm drain over the weekend, Boston television station WCVB reported.

The storm drain is covered now, but it was open enough and slippery enough on Saturday night for a 21-month-old girl to fall in after sliding out of a minivan.

“They’re made out of a granite stone, not cement. And it was wet because it was raining. So, you slip instantly. And a little baby like that, the way the van was parked, she got out of the sliding side door and she slipped,” Bruce Hebert said.

Hebert and another man, Pedro Davila, heard the mother’s cries for help. He immediately grabbed some tools and ran to the scene.

“I opened the manhole, he jumped in. If it wasn’t for the two of us, that little girl wouldn’t be well now,” Hebert said. “I was scared to death. I’m amazed that I didn’t panic, because there was a lot of people panicking.”

When the men pulled the baby out, she was blue after being in the water for about a minute and a half. They started CPR immediately.

“That was like the most beautiful thing in the world that anyone could ever see was that child blinking her eyes and coughing and fussing,” Hebert said. “That was the most beautiful thing in the world.”

The baby, whose identity has not been released, was taken to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence. She was expected to be OK.

Hebert, who said he has many medical and financial problems, has sometimes wondered “why Jesus keeps me on this Earth.”

He told a Fall River newspaper, “I got my answer tonight. It was to save that little girl.”

Monday, Mar. 31, 2008

A HEART attack patient has been reunited with the paramedic whose quick thinking helped save his life.
Gerry Wooster, of Bradley, Wrexham, was struck by a sudden heart attack when walking away from the fourth hole at Rhuddlan Golf Club last October.

Doctor Jamie Wainwright, a St Asaph based GP, was following in a party behind Gerry and rushed to give first aid.

Rhyl clinical team leader Ken Cook, was manning a rapid response vehicle when he was informed of the incident, and made his way to the golf club within four minutes of the call.

Arriving at the club, the paramedic decided getting to Gerry on foot would lose the patient valuable seconds, vital for his chance of survival.

And so quick thinking Ken decided to pack his bags onto an awaiting golf buggy, and use the vehicle to continue his rapid response to the patient on the fourth hole.

He explained: “When I arrived the patient was being resuscitated by a fellow golfer who just happened to be Dr Wainwright from Pen-Y-Bont surgery, St Asaph. Following further resuscitation and five shocks from the defibrillator, we managed to restart his heart.”

The paramedic was quickly joined by Rhyl Ambulance crew Tony Stephens and Sam Jones who negotiated their emergency vehicle across the fairways to reach Gerry.

The crew assisted with the patient’s breathing in the back of the ambulance until they arrived at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

Now Gerry, a member of the 18 hole club since 1967, has been reunited with Ken at the club and given a chance to thank him.

Thanks to the clinical assistance he received, Gerry, who has been fitted with a defibrillator to keep his heart
beat at a comfortable rate, is already back testing his handicap of 17 on the fairways of Rhuddlan.

Ken added: “It’s just great to be able to see how well Gerry has recovered from his heart attack. It was very nice to see him here and see how much of a respected man he is at the club.”

The past chairman of the Clwyd Boarder Alliance, Gerry said: “Ken and the crew did a very good job, if it wasn’t for him and Doctor Wainwright on the golf course, I wouldn’t be here today.

“I came off the par three fourth green on the course and I was suddenly on the ground. Doctor Wainwright was behind us and ran 100 yards to help me. Then Ken was the first ambulance man to reach me on the course.”

He added: “I have played a few holes since October, but now I am getting around in a golf buggy instead of walking. It will take me time but I am getting around a bit better…I can still swing!”

Thursday, Mar. 27, 2008

A Montreal cyclist who was rescued from the blades of an industrial-sized snowblower last week was introduced to his saviour by CBC Radio Thursday morning.

Richard Abderrahmane was dragged almost 50 metres when he and his bicycle got trapped in the rows of blades that force snow into the machine.

Luckily, Montreal West resident Wayne Feeney saw the cyclist’s predicament from his car at a nearby intersection.

“I thought what I saw was … garbage stuck in the side of his big intake, and then, a second later, the worst nightmare is that there was a body inside flopping around like a rag doll,” said Feeney, who realized the snowblower operator couldn’t see Abderrahmane and his bicycle.

“I just rushed out of my car, jumped up and down in front of the blower, not even thinking he could hit me, and luckily it stopped,” Feeney said.

Police and firefighters arrived a short time later and freed Abderrahmane, who walked away from the accident with just a few scratches.

Feeney left the scene without meeting the man he had rescued — that is, until the two were reunited Thursday morning for an interview on CBC Radio.

“You could not believe what that looked like, seeing half your body sticking out of the front of this gigantic thing with these big screws — it was just horrific,” Feeney said.

“Well, just to see my bike trapped under there when I was in the ambulance was bad enough,” Abderrahmane said, adding that if Feeney hadn’t intervened, he might not be around to tell the story.

Montreal police said they investigated what happened and ruled it an accident.

Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2008

A student pilot whose plane crashed into a snowy mountainside during a training flight survived overnight by wrapping himself in a tarp and then hiked out a mile through waist-deep snow to meet rescuers, authorities said Wednesday.

The plane went down late Tuesday in a forested slope on Big Pryor Mountain, about 40 miles south of Billings. The unnamed student from Rocky Mountain College was rescued at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, about a mile from the crash site.

“He ended up hiking quite a ways in his shorts and tennis shoes, in waist-high snow. He was very cold and cut up by the time we found a place to land and could hike into him,” said Jon Trapp with Carbon County Search and Rescue.

The student had stayed with his wrecked plane — a 2006 Piper — through the night and then started to hike out after he was spotted by rescue planes Wednesday morning, said Trapp, who was part of the group of rescuers that first met the student.

With overnight temperatures dropping close to zero degrees, Trapp said the student had wrapped himself in an orange tarp that was onboard the plane to keep warm. He also was wearing a jacket and wool cap.

When he met up with rescuers, the student was suffering from hypothermia but did not appear to have any major injuries, Trapp said. He was transported to a hospital in Billings.

The student had been on a solo training flight from Billings to Pryor, Wyo. He apparently veered off course and hit the mountainside northwest of Warren, aviation and rescue officials said.

The student had contacted his flight instructor via cell phone at about 9 a.m. to report he survived the crash with a dislocated shoulder and other minor injuries, said Mike Fergus, a spokesman for the FAA’s Northwest Mountain Region in Seattle. That was about 12 hours after the student departed Billings.

Trapp said the student made several other calls and sent text messages before his phone went dead. Rescuers on the ground had searched for him through the night in an area about 8 miles from the crash site, Trapp said. The downed pilot’s aircraft was spotted from the air at about 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Dan Hargrove, director of aviation for Rocky Mountain College, could not be reached immediately for comment.

About 100 students are enrolled in the college’s aviation program. It started in 1998 and offers degrees in aeronautical science and in aviation management.

The program has a fleet of eight Piper and Beechcraft airplanes based at Billings Logan International Airport.